Win7: Moving user data / desktop folders to another drive...

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VulcaN

[H]ard|Gawd
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Its a bad idea to store data on the desktop because if windows bites the dust, worst case the data gets corrupt, best case you can pop the drive in another machine and copy the desktop folder out before wiping the drive.

But I do it anyway, invariably I have projects im working on sitting on the desktop, documents folder, etc.

I know with win7/vista its super easy to move the user folders to another drive.
My question is, is there ANY downside to doing this???
 
Not that I am aware of.

I moved all mine to my other drive, and then from there will be setting up backup to my NAS.
Like you said, it helps keep things organized! And saving to desktop is super easy with web browsers compared to browsing for location each time ;)
 
Moving the Users directory to a drive other than the system drive can cause any number of problems, prevents upgrading, and is unsupported according to KB 949977.
 
You can move your user data ie: my docs, downloads, my vids, etc, and not the ENTIRE user directory just fine and safely ;)
 
Having a good backup strategy in place is the best way to safeguard your data. Either finding a good program to sync your data to another hard drive, setting up a WHS, or using the built in backup to do a regular backup of your data.

You can easily move the location of the my documents, pictures, etc, but then what happens when the drive you moved them to bites the dust?
 
Cardinals said:
Having a good backup strategy in place is the best way to safeguard your data. Either finding a good program to sync your data to another hard drive, setting up a WHS, or using the built in backup to do a regular backup of your data.

You can easily move the location of the my documents, pictures, etc, but then what happens when the drive you moved them to bites the dust?
Click to expand...

I know I moved my data to another drive because I did not want that stuff on my SSD.

Second Copy 7, Windows 7 Backup, SmartSyncPro and even DropBox are good ways to make sure the stuff is actually backed up/archived. I do mine to my NAS which is RAID1. Works great.

Now if only I could find a way to archive outlook w/out having to shut it down :eek:
 
There is no downside to linking your desktop to another location. I've done it for years, and it's fine.

All of my Pics/Docs/Music reside on a different drive than Windows.
 
VulcaN said:
Its a bad idea to store data on the desktop because if windows bites the dust, worst case the data gets corrupt, best case you can pop the drive in another machine and copy the desktop folder out before wiping the drive.

But I do it anyway, invariably I have projects im working on sitting on the desktop, documents folder, etc.

I know with win7/vista its super easy to move the user folders to another drive.
My question is, is there ANY downside to doing this???
Click to expand...

No. Just go to %USERPROFILE% and drag Desktop or any other user data folders (contacts, desktop, Downloads, links etc), to another drive/partition.

This is supported in Vista and 7.

Ed Bott explains it here.

The key to your success, however, is to occasionally back up your system drive (and of course you data). That way, if your OS get's screwed up, you just restore your back up and you're good to go.
 
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